Pollan’s Classic ’Food Rules’ Is Now a Beautiful Animation

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It started with a simple idea: when it comes to food, we would do well to model our diets after our grandparents, which is to say, we should eat less meat (most of our grandparents couldn’t afford to eat meat in the quantities most Americans do now) and far less processed food. From this basic premise sprouted Michael Pollan’s Food Rules, a slim handbook of food knowledge that brilliantly illustrates how different cultures with a broad range of traditions all share the same lasting food wisdom, and answers the common question, "What should I eat?"

In the continued spirit of accessibility and engagement, Marija Jacimovic and Benoit Detalle have created a beautiful animation based upon Pollan’s speech at the RSA in 2010, where he introduced his book. In the two-minute snippet, Pollan discusses the massive quantities of food our country produces, too much of which goes towards feeding livestock for meat production or biofuels for transportation. He delves into the system’s reliance on fossil fuels and how, if we are to feed the world’s growing population, we will have to learn to produce food without them. This gorgeous collaborative educational tool is perfect for introducing new faces to these concepts – and for those already familiar, it’s a refreshing take on Pollan’s classic and influential ideas.

While global demand for fossil fuels grows, gasoline prices remain volatile. Add in concerns about climate change and alternatives to oil-based fuels look increasingly attractive. However, corn-based ethanol, the most prominent biofuel in the United